Share “Oklahoma death row inmate waives clemency...”

Oklahoma death row inmate waives clemency hearing

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate scheduled to be executed on March 12 has waived his right to ask the state Pardon and Parole Board for clemency.

Steven Ray Thacker pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the December 1999 stabbing death of 25-year-old Laci Dawn Hill of Bixby. Thacker received the death penalty after a sentencing hearing.

Thacker can ask the board to commute his death sentence to life in prison. But Pardon and Parole Board attorney Tracy George told The Associated Press by email Wednesday that the 42-year-old Thacker waived his clemency hearing.

Thacker was also sentenced to death in Tennessee for the January 2000 killing of a tow-truck driver and to life in prison in the January 2000 death of a Missouri man.